New Year's Resolutions

I have none. Hahahaa. My biggest hope is that the dry hack phase of this getting well thing is over very soon so that I can sleep again. (Any time that I get a respiratory infection, I get over the illness and then enter a dry hack phase for an aching eternity.)

I make goals for myself, shift them as needed, negotiate and compromise with myself, and add to or delete from them as I see fit throughout the year. It is a fluid process that has nothing to do with any particular date on the calendar.

Have a happy one, all, and don't let *your* balls drop.

Cotton, Slavery, and the Making of Capitalism in America

Post by Freedom2B.

Shut It Down: Black Day of Silence on Social Media

Black Day of Silence

(post below image)

We had No Black Friday. We have Shut It Down all over the country. Now we are being asked to participate in Black Day of Silence on social media From Sunday 14 December to Monday 15 December (see ‪#‎BlackDayOfSilence‬ on social media). Those who choose to take this minimal action are requested to black out their profile photos and post nothing on those two days.

There is a marathon of the series "The African Americans" on PBS on Saturday 13 December. This is the very day before the social media blackout of 14- 15 December.

If you cannot make it to the National March Against Police Violence, perhaps educating yourself about the deep historical roots of racial injustice in the States would be a nice second option.

In Memoriam "Hashtags"
‪#‎TrayvonMartin‬, ‪#‎RenishaMcBride‬, ‪#‎AiyanaJones‬, ‪#‎MichelleCusseax‬, ‪#‎EricGarner‬, ‪#‎OscarGrant‬, ‪#‎CeCeMcDonald‬, ‪#‎IslanNettles‬, ‪#‎MichaelBrown‬, ‪#‎DeshawndaBradley‬, ‪#‎DeAndreJoshua‬, ‪#‎ShawnGray‬, ‪#‎AngeliaMangum‬, ‪#‎TjhishaBall‬

No.

Shut It Down: Black Day of Silence on Social Media

Black Day of Silence

(post below image)

We had No Black Friday. We have Shut It Down all over the country. Now we are being asked to participate in Black Day of Silence on social media From Sunday 14 December to Monday 15 December (see ‪#‎BlackDayOfSilence‬ on social media). Those who choose to take this minimal action are requested to black out their profile photos and post nothing on those two days.

There is a marathon of the series "The African Americans" on PBS on Saturday 13 December. This is the very day before the social media blackout of 14- 15 December.

If you cannot make it to the National March Against Police Violence, perhaps educating yourself about the deep historical roots of racial injustice in the States would be a nice second option.

In Memoriam "Hashtags"
‪#‎TrayvonMartin‬, ‪#‎RenishaMcBride‬, ‪#‎AiyanaJones‬, ‪#‎MichelleCusseax‬, ‪#‎EricGarner‬, ‪#‎OscarGrant‬, ‪#‎CeCeMcDonald‬, ‪#‎IslanNettles‬, ‪#‎MichaelBrown‬, ‪#‎DeshawndaBradley‬, ‪#‎DeAndreJoshua‬, ‪#‎ShawnGray‬, ‪#‎AngeliaMangum‬, ‪#‎TjhishaBall‬

Send Help

But Where Is Our Guide?

A couple of us non-mainstream Shia Muslims have been sobbing on each other's shoulders lately - at least, as much as we can do half a world away from each other using Facebook. We have been struggling with a sense of losing faith. We feel as tough we are losing touch with symbols of faith like salat or modesty which have meant a lot to us. We've been hurting because of the huge injustices that we see in the world and what we perceive to be out inability too do anything real to help. We feel as though we are falling, but we are in so much pain, and so weary and stretched thin, that we cannot possibly pick ourselves up and start over again.

We've basically turned to each other because we don't really have anyone else. Progressive Sunni Muslims, and their Sunni-normative "just Muslim" counterparts, have various progressive leaders and even Imams throughout the world to whom they can turn. However, I don't know of any Shia Imam out there who is gender-equal and LGBTIQ-affirming. We have no-one to whom we can turn with concerns that if we dress or act in certain ways which are particular to Shia Islam or which have unique textual histories in Shia Islam, we might be attacked by anti-Muslim extremists. For all that our progressive Sunni leaders love us and would try to help us, the fact is that they don't know what Mafatih al Jinan or the Prayer's Almanac is or why we need that little clay tablet so badly. If we were to turn to mainstream Shia Muslim leaders, we would be derided on account of our gender or sexual identities, or we would be chastised for our "immodest" behaviour with others.

We've been left figuring out everything from how to bend fiqh or even whether some aspects of fiqh can or should be bent at all to regain a sense of spirituality from the brokenness that is our lives without leadership or guidance from a religious leader who understands where we are coming from as Shia Muslims. And that is why this one new discussion group on Facebook was formed.

But we still have no religious guide.

It is absolutely imperative that some of our progressive Shia siblings take up the yoke, go to college for pastoral studies or divination, become clerics, and HELP US.

Help Your Community

Assalam-o-alaikum! Various community members who are either part of the progressive Muslim movement or somehow connected to it need your help! Keep reading to learn how.

---

1. The LGBTIQ Muslim Retreat needs your help. This educational and community-building week-end full of workshops and sessions has been successful in edifying participants, linking people together, guiding people to resources, and generally saving lives - literally. Save a life today, and donate as you are able.

---

In addition, two community members need help raising money to take care of their personal needs. A link for Sarah and Faisal is below, along with images.

3. Help Sarah Go To Harvard!
4. Seeking Your Support & Love (for Faisal)

---

Thank you all for your love and support!